AUSTIN- Railroad Commission Barry Smitherman issued the following statement regarding the U.S. State Department’s environmental impact study on the Keystone XL pipeline:

“This is great news for Americans who would prefer to encourage the production of oil from our neighbors to the north rather than rely on unfriendly nations for oil,” Smitherman said. “The State Department concluded in its final environmental assessment issued today that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would not significantly alter global greenhouse gas emissions, so clearly it is time to move ahead with this important energy infrastructure project.”

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Chairman Barry Smitherman was appointed to the Railroad Commission of Texas in July 2011, and was elected Chairman in February 2012. In November 2012, Chairman Smitherman won a statewide election to the Commission with 74 percent of the vote, receiving more than 4.5 million votes. Chairman Smitherman currently serves as Texas’ representative on both the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and the Southern States Energy Board, and as Chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Gas Committee. He is on the Visiting Committee of the Bureau of Economic Geology with the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin, The University of Texas School of Law Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration, and Environmental Law, and the Eanes Education Foundation Advisory Board.